Application of California Puff (CALPUFF) model: a case study for Oman

Abstract

Oil Refineries surrounding the gulf are the largest source of environmental pollution in the region. Air dispersion models are powerful tools for assessing the consequences of environmental air pollutant concentrations. This study was carried out to investigate the transport and dispersion patterns of SO2 originating from Mina Al-Fahal refinery, in the Sultanate Oman by employing California Puff (CALPUFF) dispersion modeling system. The major goal of this study is to make a comparison of the results produced by this modeling system with a previous study which was conducted for the same area using Industrial Source Complex Short Term (ISCST) model. In order to obtain the meteorological fields of the study area the CALPUFF modeling system was coupled with Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF), a prognostic meteorological model. The results indicated that the performance of the CALPUFF was better than that of ISCST; however, a difference in magnitudes of predicted and measured concentrations of SO2 was found. This difference can be reduced using high-resolution terrain elevation data, site-specific observational meteorological data and buoy data. The complex geography and variable wind regimes played an important role in distribution of SO2 in and around the refinery. The land–sea interaction also influenced the predicted results.